Melodiam madrigalium elaborata senis vocibus:" Antwerp, 1618; "Cantica sacra ad duas et tres voces, cum basso continuo ad organum," London, 1662. The latter work was published by his friend, John Playford, and by him dedicated to the queen-dowager, Henrietta Maria. Pepys frequently mentions Deering, and records the purchase of a copy of his Cantica Sacra. Master Mace too, the quaint author of Musick's Monument, highly praises his compositions. The Cantiones he calls "a very laudable and thankworthy work, wonderfully rare, sublime, and divine beyond expression."—E. F. R.
DEFERMON DES CHAPELIERES, Joseph, a French statesman, was born in 1756. He became procurator to the parliament of Brittany, and was sent as deputy to the states-general in 1789. In 1791 he was elected president of the assembly, and discharged the duties of that office with great ability. He was chosen a member of the convention in 1792, and was nominated president at the time of the king's trial; he voted for his imprisonment or banishment instead of his death, and in favour of the appeal to the people. Defermon subsequently became a member of the council of Five Hundred, and in May, 1796, was appointed to the office of president. He presided over the financial department all through the consulate and the empire, and showed himself both an able financier and a devoted adherent of Napoleon. On the final downfall of the emperor, Defermon took up his residence in Brussels, where he resided till 1822, when he was permitted to return to his native country. He died in 1831.—J. T.
DEFFAND, Marie de Vichy Chamrond, Marquise da, born in 1697 of a noble family of Burgundy, was educated at a Paris convent, where already she gave evidences of a sceptical and cynical intellect. Beautiful and witty, but poor, she allowed herself to be married when one and twenty to the marquis du Deffand, of whose common-place character she soon grew tired, and a separation ensued. She became a leading member of the philosophico-fashionable circles of Paris; but her numerous liaisons, whether intellectual or personal, were (except in the case of Walpole) without heart, and in the midst of the most brilliant society she was a martyr to ennui. Her adopted rôle of cynical observer, in a sphere so varied and peculiar, recommended her to Horace Walpole, whose position was not altogether dissimilar to her own. Something very like friendship sprang up between them, and from their first acquaintance in 1765 they maintained a close correspondence until her death at Paris in 1780. For nearly eighteen years previous to her death she was deprived of the use of her sight. Her letters to Walpole were published from the originals at London in 1810, with a prefatory memoir by their editress, Miss Berry, which has served all subsequent biographers in good stead, and is reprinted in the England and France, London, 1844, of that amiable and accomplished lady. Of madame du Deffand's esprit, celebrated in her day, the inimitable rejoinder to the cardinal de Polignac—"Ce n'est que le premier pas qui côute," still survives as perhaps a solitary memorial.—F. E.
DE FOE, Daniel, was born in London in 1661. His father, who was a dissenter, had him educated at an academy belonging to the religious denomination of which he was a member; and here the young De Foe appears to have imbibed that hostility to high-church notions which characterized him through life. If the challenge which he offered to an adversary in 1705—viz., to translate with him any Latin, French, or Italian author—be more than a mere bravado, he must have made good use of his early opportunities of study, for it is certain that he never received any additional formal education after leaving the dissenting school at Newington Green. He himself states that he was intended for the ministry; but we are not informed as to the extent of his theological attainments, nor why the intention was finally abandoned. At the age of nineteen he published his first pamphlet, the precursor of literally hundreds which he dashed off during his laborious and chequered career. It was entitled "Speculum Crape Gownorum, or a Looking-glass for the Young Academics, new foyld, with reflections on some of the late high-flown sermons; to which is added, a Sermon of the newest fashion." We generally think of De Foe as a quiet, humorous, and agreeable novelist, more interested in depicting with sober and skilful fascination the minute details in the monotonous life of a castaway, than in zealously warring against ecclesiastical tyranny. Our conception of the man is formed, to a large extent at least, from such works as the "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," or the "History of Colonel Jack," and it is undoubtedly true that in these we behold the highest triumphs of his genius; but in rightly estimating his real character and disposition, we must regard him in his twofold aspect of novelist and political reformer. Nothing is more probable than this, that if persecution, imprisonment, disgrace, and poverty had not alienated him at last from public questions, posterity would have known De Foe only as a vigorous advocate of constitutional measures, and a bold opponent of the high-church theory of the divine right of king and clergy to despotize. He was on the verge of old age before he betook himself to the loftier regions of artistic fiction. The year after he published his "Speculum" he sent forth a pamphlet on the war then being waged between the Austrians and the Turks. And in 1685, full of hatred towards the coarse and stupid misgovernment of James II., and of enthusiasm in the cause of protestant freedom, he plunged into the ill-starred rebellion of the duke of Monmouth and narrowly escaped execution. De Foe next engaged in business; for his restless, eager, and busy brain was ever planning some novelty of action in which to exercise itself. He is said to have been a dealer in wool, and to have made several voyages to Spain in the way of business, which, however, did not succeed, and he became bankrupt. In 1695 he received the appointment of accountant to the commissioners for managing the duties on glass, which he held for four years, when the duties were taken off, and the office became unnecessary. Once more he turned to his favourite subject of religious politics, and published a pamphlet on the "Occasional Conformity of Dissenters," which called forth a reply from no less distinguished a writer than John Howe. But pecuniary demands—as was frequently the case with De Foe—grew inexorable, and so once more his brain was set to work, and produced a plan for the manufacture of pantiles, until then made in Holland. The result when tried was highly unsatisfactory and the reverse of lucrative, for De Foe was summarily arrested in his work, on account of a bitterly ironical pamphlet which he had published, entitled "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters," and which the house of commons voted scandalous and seditious. He was fined, pilloried, and imprisoned; and, by the stoppage of his works and other concurrent misfortunes, lost between three and four thousand pounds. He remained a prisoner for upwards of a year, and was then released through the kindness of Harley, at that time secretary of state. He seems to have taken his residence in Newgate with wonderful cheeriness, venting himself in poems, such as "Hymn to the Pillory;" in reviews; and, as usual, in new literary schemes to be prosecuted under happier auspices. His rich mental activity seems to have made him independent of stone-walls, as, at a later period, Leigh Hunt's luxurious fancy did in similar circumstances. Harley's kindness did not end with securing De Foe's release. Both he and the queen appear to have recognized the fine genius of the unfortunate pamphleteer. Anne, who sent money to his wife and paid his prison-fine, now employed him, as did also Harley, in various important commissions, some of which, he affirms, were attended with considerable danger. Meanwhile the stream of publications, in prose and verse, flowed on in all its miraculous fulness. Nothing could abate his energies, or retard his pen. One of his most popular efforts at this time was "The True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal." In 1706 De Foe, who had now made a favourable impression at court, was sent down to Scotland to promote the union, and resided in Edinburgh for more than a year. A narrative of the important measure on which he had been engaged appeared in 1709. A pension, in consequence, was now granted him, but he did not long enjoy it on account of political vicissitudes. A few years afterwards he was again imprisoned on account of two pamphlets, the drift of which was perversely misunderstood; but was once more liberated by the queen in 1713. In 1714 Anne died, and a host of enemies, whom her partiality for De Foe had seemingly kept silent until then, burst upon him. His health failed, and his good sense dictated to him the propriety of leaving at once and for ever the harassing and unprofitable career of a political pamphleteer. He began to addict himself to milder and gentler subjects, publishing in 1715 his "Family Instructor," which achieved a remarkable popularity, and in 1722 his well-known "Religious Courtship;" exactly between which years appeared his greatest and most original work, "Robinson Crusoe," the delight of all subsequent generations. In rapid succession were published the
